Pink or Blue…If You Only Knew!

By Julie Collett

While my husband and I have not found out the gender of our babies prior to birth, many expectant parents do. The Internet and Pinterest are full of fun and creative ways to announce not only a pregnancy, but more recently, Baby’s gender. In fact, gender reveal parties are on the up and up. Here are a few fun stories from local KC moms…

Cake

Mmmm, who doesn’t love a yummy cupcake…especially when you bite into it and discover there’s a tiny pink center staring back at you? “It’s a girl!” Prairie Village mom Meghan celebrated this way with the first gender reveal party she and her husband threw. “For our gender reveal, we hosted a big get-together of about 60 people,” she says. “In front of all our family and friends, we took a bite of the cupcake to find out it was a girl! It was fun being surprised, and I was completely shocked because I was convinced it was a boy!”

Mal, a soon-to-be first time mom, had a small get-together with family and friends for her gender reveal. “We wanted the reveal to be a surprise for everyone, including us! Our nurse put the sonogram results in an envelope we dropped off at a local bakery for them to make the cake. The party was two days after our sonogram (the longest two days ever!), but well worth the wait,” she says. “I think we were even more surprised because the anticipation had built for a while!”

Confetti

While cake can certainly be a yummy way to do a gender reveal, confetti can be another fun way to surprise everyone. Olathe mom Amanda shares her story: “With my youngest being our last, we wanted to do something fun to announce the gender, so we had a "Ties or Tutus" party. At our sonogram appointment the week prior, the sonographer sealed the gender in a card so it would be a surprise to us too. I gave the sealed card to my best friend, who then took it to Hy-Vee and helped prepare the balloon for our party. At the party, my husband and I held the balloon while my two older children stood on chairs with a big needle. It was so important to us to include them in every stage of the pregnancy—especially since they were 8 and 11—so they were excited to be the ones to pop the balloon. Our family and friends surrounded us outside and counted down to zero. Our boys popped the balloon and blue confetti exploded into the air! We were so surprised and delighted to know that another boy was going to join our family soon. It was an amazing experience!”

Balloons

Just like cake and confetti gender reveals, balloons are yet another popular way to announce the exciting news. “We found out we were pregnant with our second and last baby, and I wanted that pregnancy to be just as special as the first one had been. So we decided a gender reveal would be fun. Our son, Hudson (then 21 months), loves balloons, so we did our gender reveal with pink ones in a box. Hudson wanted a sister…and that's what he got!” says Lisa.

Annabelle, a soon-to-be first time mom, shares her gender reveal story, saying, “My husband and I found out the gender at the doctor’s earlier in the week. We were very anxious to find out what we were having and did not want to wait any longer than we had to. However, we wanted the gender to be a big surprise to our family and friends, and we wanted them all to find out at once—which is why we chose to have a gender reveal party! For the reveal, I painted a big heart on a cardboard box then wrote "It's a..." I filled the box with as many pink balloons as I could fit, then taped it shut. Once all of our family and friends were there (and family who lived far away were on Facetime), my husband and I opened the box and the pink balloons flew out. It was such a fun way to share with everyone what we were having. There were lots of hugs and happy tears! We spent the rest of the night celebrating!”

Finding out the gender of your baby is exciting and remarkable no matter how you decide to share the news, or when you decide to do so. There’s no right or wrong way, so have fun however it’s done and celebrate the miracle it truly is!

Julie Collett writes from Overland Park where she and her husband decided to postpone their gender reveal until delivery.